Amazon’s AWS to invest $15 billion to expand cloud computing in Japan – Yahoo! Voices

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Friday it plans to invest 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in Japan by 2027 to expand cloud computing infrastructure that serves as a backbone for artificial technology (AI) services.

The Amazon.com unit is spending to expand facilities in the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand, it said in a statement.

That comes on top of 1.51 trillion yen spent from 2011 to 2022 to build up cloud capacity in Japan, AWS said. The company offers generative AI services to Japanese corporate customers including Asahi Group, Marubeni and Nomura Holdings, it said.

The investment comes as Japan's government and corporate sector race to catch up in AI development. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with the heads of ChatGPT creator OpenAI and advanced chipmaker Nvidia in the past year to discuss AI regulation and infrastructure.

($1 = 148.2700 yen)

(This story has been refiled to add dropped words 'creator OpenAI' after 'ChatGPT', in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)

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Amazon's AWS to invest $15 billion to expand cloud computing in Japan - Yahoo! Voices

Amazon’s AWS to invest $15 bln to expand cloud computing in Japan – Marketscreener.com

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TOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Friday it plans to invest 2.26 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in Japan by 2027 to expand its cloud computing infrastructure.

The Amazon.com unit is spending to expand facilities in the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand, it said in a statement.

That comes on top of 1.51 trillion yen spent from 2011 to 2022 to build up cloud capacity in Japan, AWS said. ($1 = 148.2700 yen) (Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Amazon's AWS to invest $15 bln to expand cloud computing in Japan - Marketscreener.com

Beyond Cloud Nine: 3 Cutting-Edge Tech Stocks Shaping the Future of Computing – InvestorPlace

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Source: Peshkova / Shutterstock

Cloud computing has helped millions of companies save time and money. Businesses dont have to worry about hardware costs and can access data quickly. Also, cloud computing companies offer cybersecurity resources to keep data safe from hackers.

Many stocks in the sector have outperformed the market over several years and can generate more gains in the years ahead. Therefore, these cutting-edge tech stocks look poised to expand and shape the future of cloud computing.

Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com

ServiceNow(NYSE:NOW) boasts a high retention rate for its software and continues to attract customers with deep pockets. The company has over 7,700 customers and almost 2,000 of them haveannual contract values that exceed $1 million.

Further, NOWs remaining performance obligations are more than triple the companys Q3 revenue. The platform allows businesses to runmore efficient help desksand streamline repetitive tasks with built-in chatbots. Also, ServiceNow offers high-level security to protect sensitive data.

Additionally, the company has been a reliable pick for investors who want to outperform the market. Shares are up by 74% over the past year and have gained 284% over the past five years. The stock is trading at a 58-forward P/E ratio. The companys net income growth can lead to a better valuation in the future. And, ServiceNow more than tripled its profits year over year (YOY) in thethird quarter. Revenue grew at a nice 25% clip YOY.

Source: IgorGolovniov / Shutterstock.com

Alphabet(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) makes most of its revenue from advertising and cloud computing. Google Cloud has become a popular resource for business owners, boasting over 500,000 customers. Also, Alphabet stands at the forefront of AI , enhancing the tech giants future product offerings.

Notably, the companys cloud segment remains a leading growth driver. Revenue for Google Cloud increased by 22.5% YOY in thethird quarter. And, Alphabets entire business achieved 11% YOY revenue growth, which is an acceleration from the previous period.

Also, Google Cloud reported a profitable quarter, swinging from a $440 million net loss in Q3 2022 to $266 million net income in Q3 2023. Alphabet investors positive response to the news helped the stock rally by 57% over the past year. The stock has gained 163% over the past five years.

Alphabet currently trades at a 22-forward P/E ratio and has a $1.8 trillion market cap. Finally, the companys vast advertising network gives them plenty of capital to reinvest in Google Cloud and the companys smaller business segments.

Source: Karol Ciesluk / Shutterstock.com

Datadog(NASDAQ:DDOG) helps companies improve their cybersecurity across multiple cloud computing solutions. Cloud spending is still in its early innings and is expected to reach$1 trillion in annual spending in 2026. The company is projected to have a $62 billion total addressable market (TAM) in that year.

Specifically, Datadog removes silos and friction associated with keeping cloud applications safe from hackers. Over 26,000 customers use Datadogs software including approximately 3,130 customers with annual contract values exceeding $100,000. The companys revenue growth over the trailing twelve months is currently 31%. Further, operating margins have improved significantly to help the company secure a net profit in the third quarter.

In fact, DDOG has a good relationship with many cloud computing giants, including Alphabet. The two corporationsexpanded their partnership to close out 2023.

Investors have been rushing to accumulate Datadog stock in recent years. Shares have gained 68% over the past year and are up by 240% over the past five years. DDOG is still more than 35% removed from its all-time high. However, continued revenue growth and profit margin expansion can help the stock reclaim its all-time high.

On this date of publication, Marc Guberti held a long position in NOW. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to theInvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Marc Guberti is a finance freelance writer at InvestorPlace.com who hosts the Breakthrough Success Podcast. He has contributed to several publications, including the U.S. News & World Report, Benzinga, and Joy Wallet.

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Beyond Cloud Nine: 3 Cutting-Edge Tech Stocks Shaping the Future of Computing - InvestorPlace

AI takes center stage as tech giants unveil cutting-edge innovations at CES 2024 – Wire19

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AI takes center stage as tech giants unveil cutting-edge innovations at CES 2024 - Wire19

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Takes on Big Tech for AI and Ad $$ – Variety

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While the big question everyone wants answered about Reddit these days is whether theres an initial public offering in the works, theres a lot more the industry is wondering about this unique hub for digital conversation.

One of its co-founders, Steve Huffman, returned to run Reddit eight years ago, and in that time has presided over a period of dramatic, if somewhat turbulent, evolution for the platform. He sat down with Variety Intelligence Platform president and chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein on Jan. 10 at the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES in Las Vegas to discuss how Reddit holds its own for ad dollars against the tech juggernauts that also want to mine the companys intellectual property for AI training purposes.

Andrew Wallenstein: May I be so bold as to ask if well be seeing an IPO anytime soon? Steve Huffman: I cant talk about that topic. I have a PR-proofed sentence: We are working toward building a sustainable business.

Wallenstein: Alright, well, lets talk about that sustainable business, starting with advertising. Look at this chart (see below). Its saturated with the biggest digital players worldwide. How are you able to differentiate what youve got to compete with the Metas and Alphabets of the world? Huffman: First, I think theres a bug on your slide Reddit is misspelled as Other.

Wallenstein: Youre all that gray?! [Joking.] Huffman: Our business is growing nicely. Were outgrowing the market right now, which wed expect to do. Reddit is unique in a number of ways. I think its important to understand that Reddit is not social media. It is communities. Brands can connect the communities of people who love those brands on Reddit in a different way, and so its also a fair amount of what we would call unduplicated reach people who are on Reddit who arent on other platforms.

Wallenstein: You guys were out with some research this week talking about the power of recommendations. Huffman: The nature of Reddit is its a place where people go for recommendations or advice. Sometimes its life advice, but many times its actually products. In fact, a lot of Reddit is people talking about stuff theyre going to buy. Every second, two people ask for a products recommendation on Reddit, and they get, on average, 19 responses. I just went through this: I bought an E ink tablet, so I was deciding which one to buy for notetaking. And Reddit has tons of communities for that stuff. That sort of advice, just from other consumers, is really special and valuable. I ended up with the Supernote, for what its worth.

Wallenstein: This recommendation-centric strategy ... how does that play in this world were in now, in the end-of-the-cookie era? Huffman: On Reddit, we target with first-party data. We see your behavior, and we use that so we dont have to cookie you all over the internet and watch what youre browsing and reading and searching for and all those things. Its just your explicitly expressed interests on Reddit. And so I think the cookie transition the industry is going to go throughpresents some challenges, but the platforms that will do best will be the ones that rely on first-party data, when were one of those.

Wallenstein: The data that is in these Reddit communities is a goldmine, which is great because the tech giants want in on that. But it also is something of a control issue with these Redditors, so how do you navigate the balance there between what you can license to tech giants but also placate the Redditors? Huffman: Yeah, theres a balance there. Were learning how to walk that line and where the line is. Reddit is a valuable source of data for training potentially, and were open to licensing it for people, you know, for that purpose. For non-commercial use, its very straightforward. You can apply to Reddit and just get access to that sort of thing.

For commercial use, wed like to have some sort of arrangement or deal so we're not just subsidizing some of the largest companies on Earth. But for our user point of view, I think, that openness and that commitment, the privacy and making sure users are in control of their own identity thats kind of the bedrock of that. So no matter, you know, whether your data is on Reddit or, for example, on another platform, like a search engine, its all kind of transparent where its going and what its being used for.

Wallenstein: I would imagine, then, that you must be watching the New York Times-versus-OpenAI case with some interest. Is it relevant to the situation at Reddit? Huffman: We are watching that case, of course. Reddit is one of the largest corpuses of human-like authentic human conversation. And its not available for free, you know, to train these models. And so well work through that with all of these companies, right? Whether they want to use Reddit data or not.

But I think many IP holders share our view there, which is you have this IP, whether youre us or The New York Times or another big IP holder, and the intention is never to just give that information away wholesale for free so somebody else can use it for their gain.

I do think the industry will find a balance here over time. I think some people in the space are being more cooperative than others. But were right in the thick of it. I think we all are, and were all taking different approaches.

Originally posted here:

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Takes on Big Tech for AI and Ad $$ - Variety

A week into 2024 and Big Tech has earned enough to pay off all 2023 fines – TechRadar

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2023 surely was an eventful year in tech. To cite just a few key moments, generative AI became mainstream thanks to software like ChatGPT; we had to say goodbye to the iconic blue bird while welcoming Twitter's new name (I know very well the pain of writing 'X, formerly known as Twitter' over the past six months); and big tech companies got fined the most under GDPR's data abuses for a total of more than $3 billion.

Well, on the latter point, data protection regulators' efforts turned out to be not as effective as it was hoped they'd be.

Swiss privacy firm behind popular email and VPN service, Proton reported that only after a week into 2024 the likes of Meta, Google, Apple and Microsoft earned enough to pay off all last year's fines. Let's take a look at what needs to change and, most importantly, what you can do in the meantime to truly protect your privacy.

"Whats clear is that these fines, though they appear to be a huge amount of money, in reality are just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the revenues that the tech giants are making. In other words, they arent a deterrent at all," Jurgita Miseviciute, Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs at Proton, told me.

Researchers at Proton have calculated that Alphabet (Google's parent company) needs only a bit more than a day to pay off its $941 million fines. Amazon and Apple's earnings of just a few hours are then enough to repay their data protection's sanctions of $111.7 and $186.4 million respectively.

While biggest data abuse perpetrator Meta, which got a record $1.3bn fine for its (mis)handling of EU user data in May last year, managed to accumulate all the necessary money in just about five working days.

These findings make it clear that data regulators' fines, as founder and CEO of Proton Andy Yen put it, are "little more than pocket change for these companies" instead of a mean to stop them abusing users' data. Not only that, he said, as "these minuscule fines essentially give the green light to tech giants to run riot in a marketplace skewed in their favor."

It's also quite common that big tech firms might appeal to these sanctions or simply refuse to pay, delaying the repayment for years. Take how Google contested India's fine, for instance, about the Android-related inquiry for abusing its dominant position in the market which started in 2019.

On this point, Yen said: "Its the average consumer that's losing outfacing higher prices, less choice, and no privacy. It has to stop and we need real, tangible change that puts people first, not profits."

According to Miseviciute, there are two main things that must happen for things to really change.

Did you know?

Fully enforced in May 2023, the EU Digital Market Act (DMA) brought new obligations for tech companies to ensure fair competition and protect people's digital rights. A similar bill, so-called Digital Markets, Consumer and Competition Bill (DMCC) is currently passing through the UK Parliament, too.

For starters, she believes that governments have to issue fines with a real financial effect in order to fight back against big monopolies.

"Thats why fines up to even 20% of global revenues for breaches of laws such as the EUs DMA [Digital Market Act] and up to 10% in case of the proposed DMCC [Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers] Bill in the UK are a step in the right direction," she told me.

If heavier sanctions are important, they are not everything. Miseviciute explained that regulators need to combine these with practical measures such as enforced behavioral and structural changes, for example.

Again, she sees the EU quite well-placed to do so due to the new powers gained with the DMA. However, elsewhere there are also some small steps in this direction.

"We hope Googles antitrust trial in the US serves as a catalyst for comprehensive antitrust regulation on the other side of the Atlantic. We also see promising potential regulatory developments in South Korea, Japan, Australia and other major jurisdictions," she told me.

"If you open up the marketplace, and you give innovators like Proton a chance to succeed, youll get solutions that are more private and more secure for consumers."

As we have seen, 2023 was yet another hard year for our online privacy.

The US, for instance, still lacks a federal data protection law with the proposed ADPPA being stalled at the time of writing. Enforced in August last year, India's new privacy law was strongly criticized for favoring government and big tech instead of citizens. Well, where allegedly strong legislations are in place like in the EU, these seem to have not enough teeth just yet.

Commenting on this point, Miseviciute told me: "Until laws like the DMA in the EU and the proposed DMCC in the UK are effectively put into practice we are living in a world where big tech rules the internetand all our privacy is at the mercy of their surveillance capitalism business model."

Did you know?

Two thirds of people in the UK would rather lose their passport than access to their email account. Yet, despite these concerns, most of them lack the necessary knowledge and tools to protect their digital privacy. Big Tech knows that, researchers revealed.

The glimpse of light in this gloomy scenario is that it's ultimately our choice if we want to keep using data-hungry products. Luckily, there are some smaller companies offering privacy-first alternatives you can switch to.

On its part, Proton appear to have been working hard to cut Google out of our digital life. Likewise the popular service, the Swiss-based provider offers an encrypted email service Proton Mail (which even beat the big tech giant by landing with a standalone desktop app in December), secure calendar and its own cloud storage Proton Drive, too.

Proton's product offering also includes one of the best virtual private network apps on the market (Proton VPN) to help you boosting your anonymity while browsing among other things, as well as a password manager tool (Proton Pass) to secure all your login details. Even better as all the provider's services come both with free and paid plans.

However, Proton is just one of the many companies developing privacy-first alternatives to big tech software. Worth a mention there are also encrypted messaging app Signal if you wish to replace WhatsApp with a more secure application and Mullvad browser to make the switch from Safari and Chrome.

Compare today's best overall VPNs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

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A week into 2024 and Big Tech has earned enough to pay off all 2023 fines - TechRadar

All the big tech layoffs of 2023 and 2024 – Engadget

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The tech industry has been reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions unfortunately ramped up in 2023 and so far, seem to be accelerating in 2024. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so weve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will continue to update this story as the situation evolves.

Duolingo cut 10 percent of its contractors, and said that it is instead able to use generative AI to accomplish some of the tasks that its human workers used to perform.

Unity laid off 1,800 people, or a quarter of its workforce. This is in addition to more than 1,110 other layoffs at the company over the past two years.

Humane cut 4 percent of its workforce even before its flagship product, the Ai pin, hit the market.

Amazon-owned Twitch is laying off a sobering 35 percent of its workforce, just over 500 people. In a note to staff, CEO Dan Clancy said "our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business."

On the same day that Amazon-owned Twitch confirmed it would be laying off 500 workers, Variety reported that Amazon itself would lay off "several hundred" people at Prime Video and MGM Studios.

Meta's layoffs are continuing into 2024. The company has reportedly let go 60 technical program managers at Instagram.

In another round of belt tightening, Google has reportedly laid off hundreds of workers in its Assistant and hardware divisions, among other departments. Alongside the cuts, Google is said to have reorganized its Pixel, Nest and Fitbit divisions, which led to Fitbit's co-founders departing the company.

Discord has reportedly laid off 170 workers, or 17 percent of its workforce. In a memo first reported by The Verge, CEO Jason Citron said the company had hired too many people back in 2020.

Spotify layoffs

Spotify is laying off 17 percent of its workforce, CEO Daniel Ek announced in a pre-holiday press release.

New World Interactive

The developer behind the Insurgency series and Day of Infamy laid off an undisclosed number of employees in December.

Tinybuild

Indie game developer Tinybuild also laid off an undisclosed number of employees, citing cost restructuring.

Codemasters

The EA-owned studio cut some jobs in December. Here, too, it is unclear how many employees lost their jobs.

Tidal

The music streamer announced in December that it is laying off 10 percent of its workforce. This follows an announcement in November from parent company Block Inc. that it would cap its workforce at 12,000 employees.

Etsy

Etsy is laying off 11 percent of its staff, or around 225 employees. The company is also reshuffling its c-suite, with two executives departing in early 2024.

Ubisoft Montreal layoffs

In early November, Ubisoft laid off 98 people from its Montreal office, considered the home of the company's biggest in-house development team. The majority of those who lost their jobs were in business administration and IT. Overall, the company said in its latest quarterly earnings report that it had cut about 1,000 jobs over the last 12 months, including layoffs and not replacing employees who left voluntarily.

Cruise layoffs

Cruise, General Motors' driverless car subsidiary, reportedly told employees in November that it plans to lay off some employees. The news came the same week that GM recalled Cruise's entire fleet of 950 robotaxis following a pedestrian collision. Cruise confirmed in December that the layoffs would include about 900 employees, or 24 percent of its workforce.

Snap layoffs

Snap laid off 20 product managers in a move it claims will enable faster decision making.

Amazon layoffs

Amazon cut 180 jobs from its gaming division, according to several reputable news outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg. The cuts included the entire staff working on Crown, an Amazon-backed Twitch channel. Separately, later in November Amazon laid off several hundred employees working on Alexa. On AI, the company is widely perceived to have fallen behind competitors such as OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT.

ByteDance layoffs

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has reportedly eliminated hundreds of roles across its gaming division. Nuverse, the publisher it acquired back in 2017, was said to be gutted in the process.

Unity layoffs

Unity Software cut 265 jobs, or 3.8 percent of its workforce, as part of a company "reset."

LinkedIn layoffs

In its second round of layoffs this year, LinkedIn said it is letting go around 668 workers from across its engineering, product, talent and finance teams. In May, LinkedIn said it would lay off 716 people and close its job search app in China. Between the two rounds of layoffs, LinkedIn will have cut nearly 1,400 jobs in 2023.

Epic Games laid off 16 percent of its employees, or about 830 employees. In an open letter to employees, CEO Tim Sweeney said the company was spending "way more money" than it earns, and that "we concluded that layoffs are the only way." Previously, the company had attempted to reduce costs by freezing hiring and cutting its marketing spending.

Roku's second round of 2023 layoffs is seeing another 300 people leaving the company, on top of 200 it let go in March and another 200 folks it dismissed in late 2022. Roku is once again looking to reduce costs and, along with lowering its headcount, it's trying to do that by axing shows and movies from its platform, consolidating office space and spending less on outside services.

Google drew attention in July when is contracting partner Accenture laid off 80 Help subcontractors who voted to form the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA the month before. Accenture attributed the move to cost-cutting. While the company said it respected the subcontractors' right to join a union, the former teams accused Google of retaliating against labor organizers.

The creator of Cyberpunk 2077 isn't immune to business challenges. CD Projekt Red warned in July that it would lay off about 100 people over the next several months, or about nine percent of the workforce. Employees will be let go as late as the first quarter of 2024. CEO Adam Kiciski was frank about the reasoning: CDPR was "overstaffed" for a reorganization meant to better handle the game developer's widening product roadmap, which includes new Cyberpunk and Witcher titles.

Spotify followed up its January layoff plans with word in June that it would cut 200 jobs in its podcast unit. The move is part of a more targeted approach to fostering podcasts with optimized resources for creators and shows. The company is also combining its Gimlet and Parcast production teams into a renewed Spotify Studios division.

GrubHub has faced intense pressure from both the economy and competitors like Uber, and that led it to lay off 15 percent of its workforce in June, or roughly 400 staff. This came just weeks after outgoing CEO Adam DeWitt officially left the food delivery service. New chief executive Howard Migdal claims the job cuts will help the company remain "competitive."

Game publishing giant Embracer Group announced plans for layoffs in June as part of a major restructuring effort meant to cut costs. The company didn't say how many of its 17,000 employees would be effected, but expected the overhaul to continue through March. The news came soon after Embracer revealed that it lost a $2 billion deal with an unnamed partner despite a verbal agreement.

Sonos has struggled to turn a profit as of late, and it's cutting costs to get back on track. The company said in June that it would lay off 7 percent of staff, or roughly 130 jobs. It also planned to offload real estate and rethink program spending. CEO Patrick Spence said there were "continued headwinds" that included shrinking sales.

Plex may be many users' go-to app for streaming both local and online media, but that hasn't helped its fortunes. The company laid off roughly 20 percent of employees in June, or 37 people. The cuts affect all areas. Plex is reportedly feeling the blow from an ad market slowdown, and is eager to cut costs and turn a profit.

Shopify's e-commerce platform played an important role at the height of the pandemic, but the Canadian company is scaling back now that the rush is over. In May, the company laid off 20 percent of its workforce and sold its logistics business to Flexport. Founder Tobi Ltke characterized the job cuts as necessary to "pay unshared attention" to Shopify's core mission, and an acknowledgment that the firm needed to be more efficient now that the "stable economic boom times" were over.

Polestar delayed production of its first electric SUV (the Polestar 3) in May, and that had repercussions for its workforce. The Volvo spinoff brand said in May that it would cut 10 percent of its workforce to lower costs as it faced reduced manufacturing expectations and a rough economy. Volvo needed more time for software development and testing that also pushed back the EX90, Polestar said.

SoundCloud followed up last year's extensive layoffs with more this May. The streaming audio service said it would shed 8 percent of its staff in a bid to become profitable in 2023. Billboard sources claim the company hopes to be profitable by the fourth quarter of the year.

Lyft laid off 13 percent of staff in November 2022, but took further steps in April. The ridesharing company said it was laying off 1,072 workers, or about 26 percent of its headcount. It comes just weeks after an executive shuffle that replaced CEO Logan Green with former Amazon exec David Risher, who said the company needed to streamline its business and refocus on drivers and passengers. Green previously said Lyft needed to boost its spending to compete with Uber.

Cloud storage companies aren't immune to the current financial climate. In April, Dropbox said it would lay off 500 employees, or roughly 16 percent of its team. Co-founder Drew Houston pinned the cuts on the combination of a rough economy, a maturing business and the "urgency" to hop on the growing interest in AI. While the company is profitable, its growth is slowing and some investments are "no longer sustainable," Houston said.

Roku shed 200 jobs at the end of 2022, but it wasn't done. The streaming platform creator laid off another 200 employees in March 2023. As before, the company argued that it needed to curb growing expenses and concentrate on those projects that would have the most impact. Roku has been struggling with the one-two combination of a rough economy and the end of a pandemic-fueled boom in streaming video.

If you thought luxury EV makers would be particularly susceptible to economic turmoil, you guessed correctly. Lucid Motors said in March that it would lay off 18 percent of its workforce, or about 1,300 people. The marque is still falling short of production targets, and these cuts reportedly help deal with "evolving business needs and productivity improvements." The cuts are across the board, too, and include both executives as well as contractors.

Meta slashed 11,000 jobs in fall 2022, but it wasn't finished. In March 2023, the company unveiled plans to lay off another 10,000 workers in a further bid to cut costs. The first layoffs affected its recruiting team, but it shrank its technology teams in late April and its business groups in late May. The Facebook owner is hoping to streamline its operations by reducing management layers and asking some leaders to take on work previously reserved for the rank and file. It may take a while before Meta's staff count grows again it doesn't expect to lift a hiring freeze until sometime after it completes its restructuring effort in late 2023.

Rivian conducted layoffs in 2022, but that wasn't enough to help the fledgling EV brand's bottom line. The company laid off another six percent of its employees in February, or about 840 workers. It's still fighting to achieve profitability, and the production shortfall from supply chain issues hasn't helped matters. CEO RJ Scaringe says the job cuts will help Rivian focus on the "highest impact" aspects of its business.

Zoom was a staple of remote work culture at the pandemic's peak, so it's no surprise that the company is cutting back now that people are returning to offices. The video calling firm said in February it was laying off roughly 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its personnel. As CEO Eric Yuan put it, the company didn't hire "sustainably" as it dealt with its sudden success. The layoffs are reportedly necessary to help survive a difficult economy. The management team is offering more than just apologies, too. Yuan is cutting his salary by 98 percent for the next fiscal year, while all other executives are losing 20 percent of their base salaries as well as their fiscal 2023 bonuses.

Engadget's parent company Yahoo isn't immune to layoffs. The internet brand said in February that it would lay off over 20 percent of its workforce throughout 2023, or more than 1,600 people. Most of those cuts, or about 1,000 positions, took place immediately. CEO Jim Lanzone didn't blame the layoffs on economic conditions, however. He instead pitched it as a restructuring of the advertising technology unit as it shed an unprofitable business in favor of a successful one. Effectively, Yahoo is bowing out of direct competition in with Google and Meta in the ad market.

The pandemic recovery and a grim economy have hit PC makers particularly hard, and Dell is feeling the pain more than most. It laid off five percent of its workforce in early February, or about 6,650 employees, after a brutal fourth quarter where computer shipments plunged an estimated 37 percent. Past cost-cutting efforts weren't enough, Dell said the layoffs and a streamlined organization were reportedly needed to get back on track.

Food delivery services flourished while COVID-19 kept people away from restaurants, and at least some are feeling the sting now that people are willing to dine out again. Deliveroo is laying off about 350 workers, or nine percent of its workforce. "Redeployments" will bring this closer to 300, according to founder Will Shu. The justification is familiar: Deliveroo hired rapidly to handle "unprecedented" pandemic-related growth, according to Shu, but reportedly has to cut costs as it deals with a troublesome economy.

DocuSign may be familiar to many people who've signed documents online, but that hasn't spared it from the impact of a harsh economic climate. The company said in mid-February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce. While it didn't disclose how many people that represented, the company had 7,461 employees at the start of 2022. Most of those losing their jobs work in DocuSign's worldwide field organization.

You may not know GitLab, but its DevOps (development and operations) platform underpins work at tech brands like NVIDIA and T-Mobile and shrinking business at its clients is affecting its bottom line. GitLab is laying off seven percent of employees, or roughly 114 people. Company chief Sid Sijbrandij said the problematic economy meant customers were taking a "more conservative approach" to software investment, and that his company's previous attempts to refocus spending weren't enough to counter these challenges.

GoDaddy conducted layoffs early in the pandemic, when it cut over 800 workers for its retail-oriented Social platform. In February this year, however, it took broader action. The web service provider laid off eight percent of its workforce, or more than 500 people, across all divisions. Chief Aman Bhutani claimed other forms of cost-cutting hadn't been enough to help the company navigate an "uncertain" economy, and that this reflected efforts to further integrate acquisitions like Main Street Hub.

Twilio eliminated over 800 jobs in September 2022, but it made deeper cuts as 2023 got started. The cloud communications brand laid off 17 percent of staff, or roughly 1,500 people, in mid-February. Like so many other tech firms, Twillio said that past cost reduction efforts weren't enough to endure an unforgiving environment. It also rationalized the layoffs as necessary for a streamlined organization.

Google's parent company Alphabet has been cutting costs for a while, including shutting down Stadia, but it took those efforts one step further in late January when it said it would lay off 12,000 employees. CEO Sundar Pichai wasn't shy about the reasoning: Alphabet had been hiring for a "different economic reality," and was restructuring to focus on the internet giant's most important businesses. The decision hit the company's Area 120 incubator particularly hard, with the majority of the unit's workers losing their jobs. Sub-brands like Intrinsic (robotics) and Verily (health) also shed significant portions of their workforce in the days before the mass layoffs. Waymo has conducted two rounds of layoffs that shed 209 people, or eight percent of its force.

Amazon had already outlined layoff plans last fall, but expanded those cuts in early January when it said it would eliminate 18,000 jobs, most of them coming from retail and recruiting teams. It added another 9,000 people to the layoffs in March, and in April said over 100 gaming employees were leaving. To no one's surprise, CEO Andy Jassy blamed both an "uncertain economy" and rapid hiring in recent years. Amazon benefited tremendously from the pandemic as people shifted to online shopping, but its growth is slowing as people return to in-person stores.

Coinbase was one of the larger companies impacted by the crypto market's 2022 downturn, and that carried over into the new year. The cryptocurrency exchange laid off 950 people in mid-January, just months after it slashed 1,100 roles. This is one of the steepest proportionate cuts among larger tech brands Coinbase offloaded about a fifth of its staff. Chief Brian Armstrong said his outfit needed the layoffs to shrink operating expenses and survive what he previously described as a "crypto winter," but that also meant canceling some projects that were less likely to succeed.

Layoffs sometimes stem more from corporate strategy shifts than financial hardship, and IBM provided a classic example of this in 2023. The computing pioneer axed 3,900 jobs in late January after offloading both its AI-driven Watson Health business and its infrastructure management division (now Kyndryl) in the fall. Simply put, those employees had nothing to work on as IBM pivoted toward cloud computing.

Microsoft started its second-largest wave of layoffs in company history when it signaled it would cut 10,000 jobs between mid-January and the end of March. Like many other tech heavyweights, it was trimming costs as customers scaled back their spending (particularly on Windows and devices) during the pandemic recovery. The reductions were especially painful for some divisions they reportedly gutted the HoloLens and mixed reality teams, while 343 Industries is believed to be rebooting Halo development after losing dozens of workers. GitHub is cutting 10 percent of its team, or roughly 300 people.

PayPal has been one of the healthier large tech companies, having beaten expectations in its third quarter last year. Still, it hasn't been immune to a tough economy. The online payment firm unveiled plans at the end of January to lay off 2,000 employees, or seven percent of its total worker base. CEO Dan Schulman claimed the downsizing would keep costs in check and help PayPal focus on "core strategic priorities."

Salesforce set the tone for 2023 when it warned it would lay off 8,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, just four days into the new year. While the cloud software brand thrived during the pandemic with rapidly growing revenue, it admitted that it hired too aggressively during the boom and couldn't maintain that staffing level while the economy was in decline.

Business software powerhouse SAP saw a steep 68 percent drop in profit at the end of 2022, and it started 2023 by laying off 2,800 staff to keep its business healthy. Unlike some big names in tech, though, SAP didn't blame excessive pandemic-era hiring for the cutback. Instead, it characterized the initiative as a "targeted restructuring" for a company that still expected accelerating growth in 2023.

Spotify spent aggressively in recent years as it expanded its podcast empire, but it quickly put a stop to that practice as 2023 began. The streaming music service said in late January that it would lay off 6 percent of its workforce (9,800 people worked at Spotify as of the third quarter) alongside a restructuring effort that included the departure of content chief Dawn Ostroff. While there were more Premium subscribers than ever in 2022, the company also suffered steep losses CEO Daniel Ek said he was "too ambitious" investing before the revenue existed to support it.

Amazon isn't the only major online retailer scaling back in 2023. Wayfair said in late January that it would lay off 1,750 team members, or 10 percent of its global headcount. About 1,200 of those were corporate staff cut in a bid to "eliminate management layers" and otherwise help the company become leaner and nimbler. Wayfair had been cutting costs since August 2022 (including 870 positions), but saw the layoffs as helping it reach break-even earnings sooner than expected.

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All the big tech layoffs of 2023 and 2024 - Engadget

Google has laid off hundreds of staff. What now for the tech market? – Euronews

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Tech giants have been increasingly laying off their employees, reaching a peak in January of last year. With Google now announcing hundreds of job cuts, what is the tech market outlook for 2024?

Google has laid off hundreds of employeesin hardware, voice assistance, and engineeringas it continues to cut costs.

"Throughout second-half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities,"a spokesperson for Google told Reuters in a statement.

"Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organisational changes, which include some role eliminations globally," the spokesperson said without specifying the number of affected roles.

Google last year announced plans to make its virtual assistant smarter by adding generativeartificial intelligence (AI) that would be able to assist with tasks such as planning a trip or catching up on emails.

Concerns about the implications and usage of AI for job cuts are not new. A survey of 750 business leaders utilising AI conducted by ResumeBuilder revealed 37% of respondents stated the technology had replaced workers in 2023, while 44% anticipated layoffs in 2024 due to AI efficiency.

Meanwhile, several other tech giants have recently announced significant job cuts.

Amazon.com Inc. is laying off hundreds of employees in content creation divisions, including Prime Video and the live-streaming site, Twitch.

Unity Software Inc., the company behind the technology used in popular mobile games such as Pokemon Go, has also announced a 25% workforce reduction, about 1,800 job cuts.

Layoffs.fyi, a platform monitoring job reductions across the industry, reports the number of tech employees laid off reached its highest point in the first quarter of 2023 and has been consistently decreasing since then.

More than 262,600 employees were last year laid off by 1,186 tech companies, including Spotify and Salesforce, with the peak occurring in January 2023.

However, despite initial concerns, the same data indicates that the job market is now stabilising.

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Google has laid off hundreds of staff. What now for the tech market? - Euronews

JPM2024: Big Tech Poised to Disrupt Biopharma with AI-Based Drug Discovery – BioSpace

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Pictured: Medical professionals use technology in healthcare/iStock,elenabs

2024 will continue to see Big Tech companies enter the artificial intelligence-based drug discovery space, potentially disrupting the biopharma industry. That was the consensus of panelists at a Tuesday session on AI and machine learning held by the Biotech Showcase, co-located with the 42nd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

The JPM conference got a reminder of Big Techs inroads into AI-based drug discovery with Sundays announcement that Google parent Alphabets digital biotech company Isomorphic Labs signed two large deals worth nearly $3 billion with Eli Lilly and Novartis.

Big Tech is coming for AI and its coming in a big way, said panel moderator Beth Rogozinski, CEO of Oncoustics, who noted that the AI boom has seen the rise of the Magnificent 7, a new grouping of mega-cap tech stocks comprised of the seven largest U.S.-listed companiestech giants Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla.

Last year, the Magnificent 7s combined market value surged almost 75% to a whopping $12 trillion, demonstrating their collective financial power.

Six of the seven have AI and healthcare initiatives, Rogozinski told the panel. Theyre all coming for this industry.

However, Atomwise CEO Abraham Heifets made the case that with Big Tech getting into biopharma there is a mismatch of business models, with the Isomorphic Labs deals looking, in his words, like traditional tech mentality. Heifets contends that its unclear whether the physics of the business will support the risk models in the industry, adding that the influence of small- to mid-size companies focused on AI-based drug discovery should not be underestimated.

Google DeepMinds AlphaFold is the foundation of Isomorphic Labs platform. The problem, according to ArrePath CTO Kurt Thorn, is that its easy for these technologies to have fast followings only to see their market shares wane over time. If you look at AlphaFold, which was a breakthrough when it came out, within two or three years afterwards there were two or three alternatives.

Thorn concluded that its not clear that the market sizes are large enough to amortize a large AI platform for drug discovery across an entire industry.

Rogozinski emphasized that these switching costs are a potential barrier to entry in moving to such drug discovery platforms as Big Tech tries to get companies to transition.

Vivodyne CEO Andrei Georgescu commented that drug discovery and development is a difficult and complex process that is not a function of how big your team is or how many people you have behind the bench. The key to the success of AI in biopharma is in the generation and curation of datasets, according to Georgescu, who said the industry is facing a bottleneck on the complexity of the data and the applicability of the data to the outcomes that we want to confirm.

Providing some levity and perspective to Tuesdays AI session, Moonwalk Biosciences CEO Alex Aravanis told the audience he was late to arrive as a panelist due to an accident on the freeway involving a Tesla self-driving vehicle. So, clearly, they need more data, Aravanis said.

Marc Cikes, managing director of the Debiopharm Innovation Fund, told BioSpace that while he has been heartened to see the rise of AI and machine learning usage in biopharma, the forecast remains murky in 2024.

The impact of AI for drug discovery is still largely unknown, Cikes said. The public market valuation of the few AI-drug discovery companies is significantly down versus their peak price, and a large chunk of the high-value deals announced between native AI companies and large pharmas are essentially based on future milestone payments which may never materialize.

Greg Slabodkin is the News Editor at BioSpace. You can reach him atgreg.slabodkin@biospace.com. Follow him onLinkedIn.

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JPM2024: Big Tech Poised to Disrupt Biopharma with AI-Based Drug Discovery - BioSpace

At CES 2024, tech companies are transforming the kitchen with AI and robots that do the cooking – DC News Now | Washington, DC

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LAS VEGAS (AP) Chef-like robots, AI-powered appliances and other high-tech kitchen gadgets are holding out the promise that humans dont need to cook or mix drinks for themselves anymore.

There was plenty new in the food and beverage world at CES 2024, the multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association. Displays included cocktail-mixing and ice cream-making machines akin to a Keurig, and a robot barista whose movements are meant to mimic a human making a vanilla latte.

Heres some of the newest tech thats transforming the way meals are prepped, cooked and delivered:

GE Appliances is looking to change the way you smoke food with its new $1,000 indoor smoker.

Around the size of a toaster oven or microwave, the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker can fit a full brisket cut in half, 40 chicken wings or three racks of ribs. It still uses wood pellets to achieve a smokey flavor, but its technology traps the smoke inside, making it perfect for people who live in urban environments, like high-rise apartments, said Whitney Welch, a spokesperson for GE Appliances.

Using generative AI technology, Brisk Its new smart grill, the NeoSear, aims to make the art of barbecuing foolproof.

You can ask the grill all kinds of questions to create the perfect recipe: What seasoning should I add to make my chicken skewers spicy? How do I sear a medium-rare steak?

Once youve nailed down a recipe and prepped the food, Brisk Its InnoGrill AI 2.0 technology will command the grill to cook it.

Its everyones smart grill, said CEO Christopher Huang. It doesnt matter if youre a skilled enthusiast, if youre busy, young or old.

The grill is not yet available but will cost around $2,000, Huang said.

Freezing your own ice cream at home takes hours, but with tech startup ColdSnaps no-clean ice cream machine, your frozen treat is ready in two minutes.

Think of it as a Keurig for ice cream: Choose from flavors like salted caramel and coffee, then put the pod in the machine and it will dispense your cold treat in minutes after scanning the pods QR code.

ColdSnap can also whip up frozen lattes, boozy ice cream treats and protein shakes.

Tech startup Chef AI is unveiling what it calls a real one-touch air fryer.

Unlike the air fryer you might have on your kitchen counter right now, Chef AIs iteration of the popular appliance doesnt require any tinkering with settings. Just place the food in the air fryer, press Start, and it uses artificial intelligence to detect what type of food it is cooking, says the companys CEO, Dean Khormaei.

He said the air fryer would turn even the worst cooks into chefs.

Chef AI will be available in the U.S. in September for $250.

Whats the secret to a perfect dirty martini? Dont worry about it Bartesians cocktail-mixing appliance takes the guesswork out of bartending.

Bartesians latest iteration, the Premier, can hold up to four different types of spirits. It retails for $369 and will be available later this year.

Use a small touch screen on the appliance to pick from 60 recipes, drop a cocktail capsule into the machine, and in seconds you have a premium cocktail over ice.

If you fancy a homemade beer instead, iGulus new automated brewing machine lets you make your own beer a pale ale, an amber lager or a wheat beer. Just pour a pre-mixed recipe into the machines keg, add water and scan the sticker that comes with the beer mix. In nine to 13 days, youll have a gallon of DIY beer.

Artly Coffees barista bot mimics the way a human behind the counter of your favorite coffee shop might prepare your usual order.

What were really trying to do is preserve the craft of fine coffee, said Alec Roig, a hardware developer for the Seattle-based tech startup that now is operating at 10 locations across the Pacific Northwest and in New York City.

Roig said the companys resident barista, who is behind all of Artlys coffee recipes, was hooked up with motion sensors that recorded his movements as he prepared each recipe, from packing the coffee grounds into the filter to frothing the milk and pouring latte art.

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At CES 2024, tech companies are transforming the kitchen with AI and robots that do the cooking - DC News Now | Washington, DC

AI’s Spotlight at Davos 2024: India’s Tech Giants on the Rise – BNN Breaking

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AI Takes Center Stage at Davos 2024: Indias Tech Giants Ready for the Spotlight

As the world continues to grapple with the multifaceted challenges of the 21st century, the World Economic Forums Open Forum in Davos, slated for January 15-19, 2024, is set to play a critical role in shaping the dialogue. Promising an enriching exchange of ideas, the forum is expected to host over 2,700 leaders from 130 countries, including the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, the spotlight this year will be firmly on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its burgeoning influence across sectors.

Under the theme of Rebuilding Trust, Davos 2024 is poised to witness a silicon showdown with AI at the heart of discussions and presentations. The global platform, known for enabling world leaders, business executives, and thinkers to collaborate on pressing international issues, will delve into the hyper-growth of AI, its ethical implications, and the potential dangers of AI-driven misinformation and disinformation. As the world continues to reel under the impact of the war in Gaza and Ukraine, along with economic worries and debt crises, the focus on AI underscores the technologys importance in shaping future economic and social policies.

Adding a significant dimension to the event are Indias major technology companies such as Qualcomm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Wipro. These tech behemoths are expected to play prominent roles at the forum, showcasing their AI capabilities, innovations, and contributions to the global tech landscape. In what could potentially be a game-changer, these companies are poised to steal the spotlight at the forum, underscoring Indias growing prowess in the global tech arena.

With a record number of business representatives from Latin America and Asia, the 54th annual meeting reflects global economic trends of reshifting and rebalancing. The presence of civil society groups and guests from the science and culture world is a testament to the forums inclusive character and its commitment to fostering a holistic and comprehensive debate on key issues. As AI continues to redefine boundaries and blur the lines between technology and humanity, its role at the World Economic Forum 2024 is not just symbolic, but a realization of the technologys integral role in our future.

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AI's Spotlight at Davos 2024: India's Tech Giants on the Rise - BNN Breaking

Chinas Big Tech firms cut external investments further in 2023 – South China Morning Post

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Chinas internet giants from Alibaba Group Holding to Tencent Holdings slashed external investments last year amid an economic slowdown, regulatory headwinds and geopolitical tensions, according to data compiled by a Chinese consultancy.

Total investment deals made by Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu plunged by nearly 40 per cent to 102 in 2023, with Tencent known for its expansive holdings in Chinas internet sector seeing the largest reduction in deals, data from ITJuzi showed.

The social media and video gaming titan struck 39 investment contracts with 37 companies last year, a sharp decline from the 95 and 299 deals it made in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Web search and artificial intelligence (AI) firm Baidu participated in 24 investment deals last year, down from 52 in 2021. E-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, took part in 39 deals, a fall from 91 in 2021, according to ITJuzi.

2021 was a watershed year for Chinese internet firms, as Beijing kicked off a campaign to rein in the disorderly expansion of capital. Amid a series of regulatory tightening moves, the countrys internet champions - whose market sizes were once on a par with their American counterparts - have virtually stopped expanding.

Tencents investments last year were mainly related to corporate services, healthcare and video games. Advanced manufacturing firms were Alibabas top picks, with eight related deals being struck by the Hangzhou-based company and its affiliates during the year.

Alibaba, which is grappling with anaemic consumer spending at home, made four investment deals in the e-commerce sector, three of them outside China.

AI was another investment favourite among Chinese tech giants last year, as they raced to build and promote their local rivals to OpenAIs ChatGPT.

Tencent and Alibaba each backed seven and four AI start-ups developing large language models (LLMs), the technology which underpins chatbots like ChatGPT, which can understand complex questions and give humanlike responses.

Last year, Alibabas in-house research facility Damo Academy also launched a research laboratory to recruit more than a hundred postdoctoral candidates to work on cutting-edge areas, including AI and semiconductors.

Other major Chinese tech companies made even fewer investments.

TikTok owner ByteDance struck five external investment deals last year, while online shopping platform operator JD.com made just two.

Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi emerged as the top investor by number of investments, with 82 deals made during the year.

In that same month, Xiaomi invested in three start-ups in the vehicle and transport industry, according to ITJuzi.

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Senators warn AI could lead to ‘destruction’ of local news – Detroit News

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detroitnews.com wants to ensure the best experience for all of our readers, so we built our site to take advantage of the latest technology, making it faster and easier to use.

Unfortunately, your browser is not supported. Please download one of these browsers for the best experience on detroitnews.com

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Senators warn AI could lead to 'destruction' of local news - Detroit News

Tech Giants Refuse U.S. Consumer Security to Oversee Digital Wallets – The Tech Report

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The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a lobby group representing major tech companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, and X, expressed concerns about a proposed plan by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The CFPBs proposal seeks equal oversight of digital wallet and payment app providers, including tech giants, to ensure consumer protections similar to traditional payment methods.

The CCIAs head of regulatory policy, Krisztian Katona, cautioned against the potential negative impact of the proposal, suggesting that overly broad or burdensome digital regulations could impede innovation and harm new startups in the industry.

The lobby group emphasized that extensive supervision like the one imposed on banks might not be the most effective approach.

In the comment letter addressed to the CFPB, the CCIA pointed out a perceived flaw in the proposal, stating that it failed to identify the specific consumer risks it intended to address.

The letter argued against viewing non-bank digital providers and banks as direct competitors, emphasizing the markets reality, where their collaborations often benefit consumers through complementary services.

The Financial Technology Association, representing members such as PayPal and Block Inc., echoed similar concerns in a separate comment letter released on the same day. They argued that existing regulations were adequate, urging the CFPB to suspend the rulemaking process.

The association, which includes companies like Venmo and Cash App, also believed that unnecessary regulations could stifle innovation and hinder the industrys growth.

The adoption of digital payment systems has continued to increase, given the advantage they offer users over traditional methods.

Notably, digital payments offer high convenience and security, adding to their user-friendly features and benefitting businesses and consumers.

Due to this support, there is a projected 26.93% compound growth in their adoption between 2021 and 2025.

This rise gives birth to a significant trend in the competitive industry, resulting in a consolidation period where large tech companies surpass regional and community banks in terms of trust associated with digital payments.

The IMF acknowledges the significance of digital payments in reshaping the industry and encourages more collaborations and competition between big tech companies and regular financial institutions.

Besides that, digital wallets have proven helpful in streamlining payment processes and bringing existing systems together, whether online portals for internet-based operations or contactless terminals for face-to-face transactions.

This ease of integration enhances accessibility and convenience for customers and businesses, contributing significantly to the widespread adoption of digital wallets.

In addition to these benefits, the cost-effectiveness of digital wallets compared to traditional payment methods makes them an attractive option for businesses aiming to reduce transaction costs.

This affordability further incentivizes their adoption across various industries, positioning digital wallets as indispensable tools for most tech organizations.

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Tech Giants Refuse U.S. Consumer Security to Oversee Digital Wallets - The Tech Report

Amazon Discounts Apple AirTags; UK PM Impersonated on Social Media; Tech Giants Make Waves at CES 2024 – BNN Breaking

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Amazon Discounts Apple AirTags; UK PM Impersonated on Social Media; Tech Giants Make Waves at CES 2024

In a notable move, Amazon is currently offering a substantial deal on a four-pack of Apple AirTags, marking a 10 percent discount on the original price of $99. This offer is fortified by an additional $10 coupon, which further slashes the price down to a mere $79. These AirTags, slightly larger than a quarter, are designed with precision, aiding Apple device owners in keeping track of their possessions effortlessly.

These Bluetooth trackers, a product of Apples innovation, operate in coordination with Apples Find My network, providing location information rapidly and efficiently. They do not require charging, boasting a life span of about a year before the battery necessitates replacing. Capable of tracking up to 32 items, AirTags carry an IP67 rating, ensuring robust resistance against water and dust.

In a startling revelation, a communications firm recently uncovered 143 different ads impersonating the UK Prime Minister on social media in the previous month. This raises serious questions about the security measures in place on these platforms.

The tech landscape continues to evolve, with the new Vision Pro headset requiring a Face ID scan to ensure a precise band fit. Pre-orders for this tech marvel commence on January 19. Meanwhile, the focus at CES 2024 saw giants like Nvidia, LG, Sony, and Samsung making significant announcements, reshaping the technological future.

Adding to the tech narrative, Microsoft momentarily overtook Apple as the most valuable company, sparking a wave of discussions about their investments and advancements in AI. This event also shed light on the implications of the declining iPhone demand in China.

On the international front, a historic decision unfolded in Victoria as Robert Farquharson, convicted of murdering his three young sons in 2005, was stripped of the right to his childrens gravesite. Concurrently, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat made a statement on national television regarding President Volodymyr Zelenskyys claim about the destruction of 26 Russian helicopters and 12 planes.

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Amazon Discounts Apple AirTags; UK PM Impersonated on Social Media; Tech Giants Make Waves at CES 2024 - BNN Breaking

Tech Giants Amazon and Cloudflare Under Fire for Controversial Employee Terminations – BNN Breaking

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Tech Giants Amazon and Cloudflare Under Fire for Controversial Employee Terminations

Two tech industry employees, one from Amazon and another from Cloudflare, have recently made headlines after their controversial firings, which they shared on social media platforms, began to trend. They have sparked debates on employment policies, termination procedures, and the role of social media in employee relations.

Kendall, a seven-year veteran at Amazon, turned to TikTok to express his dissatisfaction with the companys employment practices. Known to his 35,800 followers as thatamazonguyy, Kendall humorously advised people to refrain from ordering heavy items like Fiji water or dog food. He argued that the task of picking such heavy orders was unreasonable, causing waves of reactions from his viewers. The video, posted four weeks before Kendalls termination, was received with mixed reactions. While many found humor in his light-hearted complaints, some, particularly senior citizens, took offense.

Acknowledging the unintended offense, Kendall apologized, clarifying that his intentions were neither harmful nor discriminatory. Despite his public apology, Amazon decided to terminate his employment, also making him ineligible for rehire. Although the tech giant has not issued an official statement, Kendalls story continues to fuel discussions over the physical demands on Amazon workers.

Simultaneously, another employee termination was stirring controversy in the tech sector. Brittany Pietsch, a mid-market account executive at Cloudflare, recorded her own firing on a Zoom call and shared the video on social media. Her confrontational questioning of HR representatives and her visible frustration with their vague responses resonated with many viewers. The video quickly went viral, sparking debates about the companys handling of the situation and the legality of recording such calls.

Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, commented on the incident, admitting that the companys approach to firing employees wasnt always perfect. Pietsch further explained on LinkedIn that her manager was left in the dark about her dismissal, expressing his shock upon discovering the news. She also stated that despite being among the top performers on her team, she was let go due to not meeting company expectations based on 2023 performance evaluations.

As the dust settles on these two high-profile firings, they serve as reminders of the precarious balance between employer expectations, employee rights, and the power of social media in shaping public opinion.

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Tech Giants Amazon and Cloudflare Under Fire for Controversial Employee Terminations - BNN Breaking

MSI Cyborg 14 hands-on: I’ve never been so excited for a budget gaming laptop – Laptop Mag

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Nostalgia for the 1990s has been running high for years, but finally we have what weve been missing: transparent tech. MSIs new Cyborg 14 has a transparent chassis in a gray-blue shade that is immediately reminiscent of Nintendos translucent Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advanced handhelds.

As far as budget gaming laptops go, this may be the only exciting entry into that space due to its style and surprising amount of computing power for FHD gaming.

Lets dig in and see if its destined to find a spot among our best budget gaming laptops.

The high-end version of the Cyborg 14 with an Intel i7-13620H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 will retail for $1,099. MSI has not finalized pricing for the lower configurations which could come with an Intel Core i5 13th gen processor and an NVIDIA 2050, 3050, or 4050 GPU. However, its safe to say the Cyborg will start below $1,000.

The Cyborg 14 doesnt have a set date to hit the shelves as of press time.

Positioned as the new entry level in the Cyborg line-up, the 14 exchanges the Cyborg 15s red and black colors for a blue and gray scheme which gives it a unique look among gaming laptops, especially in the budget gaming space. The transparent chassis and WASD keys pair well with the bright blue keyboard lights for a slick cyberpunk design. It is very much the kind of 90s design throwback that Millennials have been hoping for.

The Cyborg 14 also weighs just 3.5 lbs (1.6 Kg) so it is very light, which is also a nice touch on a gaming laptop.

The Cyborg 14 features a 14-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) display with a 144Hz refresh rate. The IPS panel will hit 100% on the sRGB color gamut, so youve got a decent bit of color accuracy for gaming and web surfing.

Topping out at $1,099, the Cyborg 14 packs a surprising amount of power in its small chassis with a 13th gen Intel i7-13620H CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPU. As the 14-inch display tops out at FHD+ resolution, you should have all the power you need with that top end configuration. Obviously, well need to confirm that in our labs in the future.

The Cyborg 14s Achilles heel may very well be its 53.5 Whr battery which is a small power supply for any gaming laptop. MSIs AI Engine will be working hard to keep the machine going for as long as possible, but well need to test it out in our lab to be sure of exactly how much leverage the new AI Engine gives to battery life.

Budget gaming laptops are rarely exciting. In fact, theyre usually the kind of laptops I dread dealing with because of the compromises they need to make to hit that low price point. But the RTX 4060 is a powerhouse of a GPU and while the i7-13620H isnt the flashiest or most powerful CPU, but it can absolutely keep up with the demands of 1200p gaming.

Maybe it's my 90s nostalgia hitting, but I am actually excited about the Cyborg 14. And that honestly might be the most impressive thing about it.

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MSI Cyborg 14 hands-on: I've never been so excited for a budget gaming laptop - Laptop Mag

Cris Cyborg To Face Unbeaten Foe in Second Pro Boxing Fight – BoxingScene.com

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World Fighting Championships returns Jan. 19 at the beautiful Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. with a stacked card highlighted by Cris Cyborg vs. Kelsey Wickstrum in the main event.

The card is WFCs first of the year, and first at the casino. It will be streamed beginning at 7:00 p.m. on the 19th at spectationsports.com.

Cris Cyborg (1-0), regarded as one of the top MMA female fighters in the world, embarks on her second fight of her professional boxing career. Cyborg shined in her professional debut in 2022, knocking down Gabrielle Holloway en route to a four-round, wide unanimous decision in Omaha.

I am excited to be making my California boxing debut with Pechanga Casino and WFC, said Cyborg. Kelsey Wickstrum is ranked #3 in the USA at super welterweight for womens boxing, and it will be a great challenge.

Cyborgs opponent, undefeated Kelsey Wickstrum (2-0, 1KO) is coming off a first round stoppage win over Sudana Moore last April in Maryland.

My team and I feel great about this fight, said Wickstrum. I am very grateful for the opportunity. This is the biggest fight of my career against a legendary woman in the world of mixed martial arts and women's combat sports. All my preparation leading up to this fight was to make sure I am prepared mentally and physically to handle this fight, no matter what direction it may go. I am confident in my skills and I bet on me always. I am always the underdog and I am always overlooked, which has proved to be a mistake. One thing about me is I always come prepared and I do not come to lose. I expect nothing less than an awesome fight and performance.

This is a great card to kick off 2024 for World Fighting Championships, said Matt McGovern, promoter and CEO of WFC. Were excited to have Cris Cyborg on the card, and she is facing a very tough opponent in Kelsey Wickstrum. Were very grateful to Pechanga Resort Casino and the Pechanga Band of Indians for partnering with us on this event.

In the co-main event, San Diegos Jesus Resendiz (7-0-1, 5KO) faces Rosekie Cristobal (15-6, 11KO) of the Philippines in a six-round bout at welterweight. Resendiz is coming off a third round knockout over Jose Leon. Cristobal will be fighting for the first time since 2021.

Also on the card, San Diego super lightweight Angel Estrada (10-1-1, 7KO) faces Frank Brown (3-3-2, 1KO) of San Antonio. Super welterweights Angel Munoz (5-0, 4KO) and Keith Carson (1-6-1) face off, and Californians Freddie Johnson (debut) and Alex Gutierrez (0-3) mix it up at super featherweight.

Kevin Salgado (4-1, 2KO) will be in action at 147 lbs, Fernando Gonzalez (debut) faces John Darcy (2-1, 2KO) at light heavyweight, Ulysses Navarro (1-0, 1KO) and Michael Hansen (debut) square off at featherweight, Christian Tinoco (debut) will face brandon Truong (0-1), and Jack May (8-0, 7KO) faces Trevor Kotara (3-3-1, 1KO) at heavyweight.

The card will also feature several amateur bouts.

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Cris Cyborg To Face Unbeaten Foe in Second Pro Boxing Fight - BoxingScene.com

Why This Brain-Hacking Technology Will Turn Us All Into Cyborgs – The Daily Beast

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It felt like magic: As I moved my head and eyes across the computer screen, the cursor moved with me. My goal was to click on pictures of targets on the display. Once the cursor reached a target, I would blink causing it to click on the targetas if it were reading my mind.

Of course, thats essentially what was happening. The headband I was wearing picked on my brain, eye, and facial signals. This data was fed through an AI-software that translated it into commands for the cursor. This allowed me to control what was on the screen, even though I didnt have a mouse or a trackpad. I didnt need them. My mind was doing all of the work.

The brain, eye, and face are great generators of electricity, Naeem Kemeilipoor, the founder of brain-computer interface (BCI) startup AAVAA, told The Daily Beast at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show. Our sensors pick up the signals, and using AI we can interpret them.

The headband is just one of AAVAAs products that promises to bring non-invasive BCIs to the consumer market. Their other devices include AR glasses, headphones, and earbuds that all essentially accomplish the same function: reading your brain and facial signals to allow you to control your devices.

While BCI technology has largely remained in the research labs of universities and medical institutions, startups like AAVAA are looking for ways to put them in the handsor, rather, on the headsof everyday people. These products go beyond what we typically expect of our smart devices, seamlessly integrating our brain with technology around us. They also offer a lot of hope and promise for people with disabilities or limited mobilityallowing them to interact with and control their computers, smartphones, and even wheelchairs.

However, BCIs also blur the lines between the tech around us and our very minds. Though they can be helpful for people with disabilities, their widespread use and adoption raises questions and concerns about privacy, security, and even a users very personhood. Allowing a device to read our brain signals throws open the doors to these ethical considerations so, as they steadily become more popular, they could become more dangerous as well.

AAVAAs BCI devices on a table at CES 2024. AAVAA is looking for ways to put them in the handsor, rather, on the headsof everyday people.

BCIs loomed large all throughout CES 2024and for good reason. Beyond being able to control your devices, wearables that could read brain signals also promised to provide greater insights into users health, wellness, and productivity habits.

There were also a number of devices targeted at improving sleep quality such as the Frenz Brainband. The headband measures users brainwaves, heart rate, and breathing (among other metrics) to provide AI-curated sounds and music to help them fall asleep.

Every day is different and so every day your brain will be different, a Frenz spokesperson told The Daily Beast. Today, your brain might feel like white noise or nature sounds. Tomorrow, you might want binaural beats. Based on your brains reactions to your audio content, we know whats best for you.

To produce the noises, the headband used bone conduction, which converts audio data into vibrations on the skull that travel to the inner ear producing sound. Though it was difficult to hear clearly on the crowded show floor of CES, the headband managed to produce soothing beats as I wore them in a demo.

When you fall asleep, the audio automatically fades out, the spokesperson said. The headband keeps tracking all night, and if you wake up, you can press a button on the side to start the sounds to put you back to sleep.

However, not all BCIs are quite as helpful as they might appear. For example, there was MW75 Neuro, a pair of headphones from Master and Dynamic that purports to read your brains electroencephalogram (EEG) signals to provide insights on your level of focus. If you become distracted or your focus wanes for whatever reason, it alerts you so you can maintain productivity.

Sure, this might seem helpful if youre a student looking to squeeze in some more quality study time or a writer trying to hit a deadline on a story, but its also a stark and grim example of late-stage capitalism and a culture obsessed with work and productivity. While this technology is relatively new, its not difficult to imagine a future where these headphones are more commonplace andpotentiallyrequired by workplaces.

When most people think about BCIs, they typically think of brain-chip startups like Synchron and Neuralink. However, these technologies require users to undergo invasive surgeries in order to implant the technology. Non-invasive BCIs from the likes of AAVAA, on the other hand, require just a headband or headphones.

Thats what makes them so promising, Kemeilipoor explained. No longer would it be limited to only those users who really need it like those with disability issues. Any user can pop on the headband and start scrolling on their computer or turning their lamps and appliances on and off.

The Daily Beasts intrepid reporter Tony Ho Tran wears AAVAAs headband, which promises to bring non-invasive BCIs to the consumer market.

Its out of the box, he explained. Weve done the training [for the BCI] and now it works. Thats the beauty of what we do. It works right out of the boxand it works for everyone.

However, the fact that it can work for everyone is a top concern for ethical experts. Technology like this creates a minefield of potential privacy issues. After all, these companies may potentially have completely unfettered access to data from our literal brains. This is information that can be bought, sold, and used against consumers in an unprecedented way.

One comprehensive review published in 2017 in the journal BMC Medical Ethics pointed out that privacy is a major concern for potential users for this reason. BCI devices could reveal a variety of information, ranging from truthfulness, to psychological traits and mental states, to attitudes toward other people, creating potential issues such as workplace discrimination based on neural signals, the authors wrote.

To their credit, Kemeilipoor was adamant that AAVAA would and does not have access to individual brain signal data. But the concerns are still there, especially since there are notable examples of tech companies misusing user data. For example, Facebook has been sued multiple times for millions of dollars for storing users biometric data without their knowledge or consent. (Theyre certainly not the only company doing this either.)

These issues arent going to go awayand theyll be further exacerbated by the infusion of technology and the human brain. This is a phenomenon that also brings up concerns about personhood as well. At what point, exactly, does the human end and the computer begin once you are able to essentially control devices as an extension of yourself like your arms or legs?

The questionis it a tool or is it myself?takes on an ethical valence when researchers ask whether BCI users will become cyborgs, the authors wrote. They later added that some ethical experts worry that being more robotic makes one less human.

Yet, the benefits are undeniableespecially for those for whom BCIs could give more autonomy and mobility. Youre no longer limited by what you can do with your hands. Now, you can control the things around you simply by looking in a certain direction or moving your face in a specific way. It doesnt matter if youre in a wheelchair or completely paralyzed. Your mind is the limit.

This type of technology is like the internet of humans, Kemeilipoor said. This is the FitBit of the future. Not only are you able to monitor all your biometrics, it also allows you to control your devicesand its coming to market very soon.

Its promising. Its scary. And its also inevitable. The biggest challenge that we all must face is thatas these devices become more popular and we gradually give over our minds and bodies to technologywe dont lose what makes us human in the first place.

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Why This Brain-Hacking Technology Will Turn Us All Into Cyborgs - The Daily Beast

MSI Cyborg 14 A13V see-through gaming laptop is just 18.6 mm thin and 1.6 kg light – Gadget Flow

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Journey through gaming worlds with the unique MSI Cyborg 14 A13V. Featuring an incredibly light and thin design, it lets you express your style.

Powerful Hybrid Core Architecture: The MSI Cyborg 14 boasts up to an Intel Core i7-13620H processor. Featuring 6 performance cores and 4 efficient cores, it provides improved multitasking and efficient performance for demanding games. Ultra-Thin and Lightweight Design: Measuring just 18.6 mm thin and weighing only 1.6 kg, this laptop is highly portable. See-Through Design with Cybernetic Trims: Then, the keyboard and chassis feature translucent parts, offering a see-through glimpse of the internals. NVIDIA GPUs: Powered by NVIDIA GeForce RTX Series Laptop GPUs, the Cyborg 14 A13V delivers beyond-fast performance. AI-Powered Performance and Ray Tracing: Whats more, you get a leap in gaming and app performance with AI-powered DLSS 3.

Gaming is lightweight and stylish with this ultrathin laptop.

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MSI Cyborg 14 A13V see-through gaming laptop is just 18.6 mm thin and 1.6 kg light - Gadget Flow